In one technique for three-dimensional image reconstruction, a number of images or image sets of an object are captured with a camera that travels in a path over the surface of the object. A three-dimensional model of the object can then be obtained from a description of the camera path and individual three-dimensional measurements captured along the camera path. In certain applications, data from a surface of an object is available in multiple, disparate data sets, such as where a scan is interrupted prior to completion or where additional scans are performed to augment an initial scan. The resulting multiple models can be registered to one another to obtain a combined model. While conventional registration techniques can minimize an error in alignment between two such resulting models, this approach does not afford an opportunity to refine the individual models in view of the combined data.
There remains a need for improved techniques to combine disparate three-dimensional data sets, particularly disparate data sets based upon a path of poses of a three-dimensional scanner.